Washington (CNN) -- Federal civil rights lawyers
filed suit Wednesday against Meridian, Mississippi, and other defendants
for operating what the government calls a school-to-prison pipeline in which students are denied basic constitutional rights, sent to court and incarcerated for minor school infractions.

The lawsuit says children
who talk back to teachers, violate dress codes and commit other minor
infractions are handcuffed and sent to a youth court where they are
denied their rights.

It's the first time a
jurisdiction has been charged under a law designed to protect the due
process rights of juveniles in such circumstances.